Christmas at Walt Disney World

Happy New Year, everyone!  May God bless you during this new year - 2011!.

During the past two weeks, I've taken a break from blogging.  It was my intention to take a week break, but because we were still on vacation and had limited Internet service, I decided to go ahead and take the second week as well.  It was a much needed break from the busyness of everyday life and our family enjoyed it immensely.

Two and a half years ago, my family went to Disney World for a ten day summer vacation.  At that time, we never thought we would ever go again to Disney World, so made the vacation extra long to be able to do everything we would ever want to do.  As the vacation ended, we didn't want to leave - not one of us!  We all wished that it was even longer than the ten days.

When we arrived back home after that trip, we decided to go again some day.  We asked the kids' opinion on whether we should go again some summer or whether we should go at Christmas time.  They all agreed on Christmas.  We decided then to begin saving to go during Christmas of 2010.  We saved for 2 1/2 years for the trip.  One way we save money is by not spending our change.  We save the change we get from purchases and don't spend it.  We found a bank that has a change counter and we opened a special account just for saving money for that trip. It was worthwhile to open the account and use the change counter, so that we didn't have to roll the change ourselves.  Half of this trip, as well as the 2008 trip was paid for with change.  That is a good thing for the kiddos to see - that "small" change can add up!

This past Christmas vacation at Disney World was also ten days long.  But this time - maybe because of the cooler temperatures - it actually seemed like a long time.  We would have liked to stay on vacation, still, but we felt like we had been gone for a long time and that we had a long, enjoyable vacation.  We did everything we wanted to do, despite the large crowds at the parks.

Christmas time at Disney World is magical!  Of course, any time at Disney World is magical!  Disney does a great job at making the most of the season, using lots of lights, Christmas trees and garland, music, parades, special events, and even using fake snow.

This week I will share with you some pictures of our trip and also give a few tips about planning a trip to Disney World.  I'll also share a few devotional thoughts during the week, as well.

Again, have a very Happy New Year and thank you for reading "Shine Like Stars"!  Have a great week!